FBI Director James Comey is frustrated with Apple and Google over security measures meant to bar law enforcement access to data even with a court order, according to comments made to reporters and later confirmed by a bureau spokeswoman. The FBI is meeting with the two companies to discuss the issue, Comey said. “What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to hold themselves beyond the law.” Apple and Google have been public about increased encryption measures they added since revelations about government surveillance programs. Apple also promoted a feature on its recent iOS 8 update that makes the company unable to comply with government requests to turn over user data (CED Sept 19 p7). Apple and Google did not comment.

Intel will invest up to $1.5 billion for 20 percent ownership of the Chinese holding company Tsinghua Unigroup to expand the adoption of Intel-based mobile devices in China, Intel said Thursday. Tsinghua Unigroup owns Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics, Chinese fabless semiconductor makers that produce mobile chipsets for smartphones and other CE products, Intel said. “China is now the largest consumption market for smartphones and has the largest number of Internet users in the world,” said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. The partnership with Tsinghua Unigroup will “enhance our ability to support a wider range of mobile customers in China and the rest of the world by more quickly delivering a broader portfolio of Intel architecture and communications technology solutions,” he said. To begin, Intel and Spreadtrum will jointly create a line of Intel-based system-on-chips for smartphones that both companies will sell starting in 2015’s second half, Intel said.

Sony used the listening party at Avatar Studios in New York Thursday for the Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga Cheek to Cheek album as the U.S. launching pad for its $299 NWZ-A17 portable music player due in November. Sony’s debut of a high-res portable music player comes during the same month when Apple pulled the iPod Classic from its website store. Cheek to Cheek, released earlier in the week, was recorded in 24-bit Hi-Res Audio and supports codecs including AFF, WAV, ALAC, FLAC, DSF, DFF and MP3, said album information in the software. Sony played the title through its Hi-Res Audio lineup at several stations, including through the $1,999 HAP-Z1ES music server. Sony will launch the NWZ-A17 player through Amazon, Crutchfield, Sony’s website and other large online retail stores, said Michael Woulfe, Sony senior vice president-sales & marketing, sound division. The November delivery meant “a lot of retailers’ floors were already set” for the holidays, Woulfe told us. Sony is thinking about bundling opportunities with Hi-Res Audio content providers but no deals have been announced, he said. Cheek to Cheek was selling as a download through HDTracks in 96/24 in AIFF format for $22.98 Friday, and Acoustic Sounds listed it in FLAC for $24.98. Target, meanwhile, was selling an exclusive CD version with two extra songs, for $15.99. Sony also launched its marketing campaign with Interscope Records/Streamline Records/Columbia Records for Hi-Res Audio that will run through early 2015. The campaign has a target of 23 million impressions and includes a mix of digital and print advertising, Sony said. LG, meanwhile, is using the same collaboration of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga in its sponsorship of the 4K live concert featuring the duo performing at Lincoln Center in August. The event will be the first concert to appear in 4K when it streams from Amazon Instant Video later this year.

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., worries the FCC “is relegating broadcasting to the past, rather than working to give broadcasters a chance to compete in the modern content marketplace,” he planned to tell the Oregon Association of Broadcasters Friday, according to prepared remarks. Walden enumerated multiple issues of concern around “a number of its actions,” pointing to the agency’s “ban on joint sales agreements, changes to the UHF discount, and a persistent delay in processing those petitions for allocation changes from VHF to UHF filed prior to the Middle Class Tax Relief Act,” all of which are “troubling,” he said. He insisted that broadcasters that do not wish to relinquish spectrum in the broadcast TV incentive auction should be allowed to make that choice. “I intend to ensure that the Commission properly implements the provisions of the Act to preserve a vibrant post-auction broadcast environment,” Walden said. “That includes ensuring that broadcasters who wish to remain broadcasters can do so; ensuring that the FCC makes all reasonable efforts to maintain coverage areas; ensuring that the FCC coordinates with Mexico and Canada; ensuring that the FCC does not unnecessarily impact LPTV and translators; and, ensuring that the FCC raises enough money to compensate stations that return spectrum, to reimburse those that relocate, and to fund FirstNet.” Walden criticized the laws governing broadcasting as particularly old, and slammed the broadcast media ownership rules, saying he plans to take aim at the rules in a planned overhaul of the Communications Act: “It is our intent that the #CommActUpdate take a hard look at the current state of the market and have a serious conversation on how we can remove unnecessary government intrusion into broadcasting and let broadcasters compete in the 21st century.” Walden criticized FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for “having taken it upon himself to unilaterally ‘reform’ industries without regard for the consequences to consumers, to jobs and the economy, or to the innovation that has been the hallmark of the American communications industry” and referred to the FCC’s “seeming disregard for transparency and process.”

Though the 5.5-inch screen of the iPhone 6 Plus is 38 percent larger than the 4-inch screen of the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 6 Plus costs only 15 percent more to build, said a preliminary analysis by the website Teardown.com (http://bit.ly/1mycAVA). The estimated combined cost of Apple’s new A8 processor with Qualcomm’s MDM9625M modem is the largest chunk ($59.50) of the phone’s total cost ($242.50), the site said. The 5.5-inch display and touchscreen assembly costs $51, while a Toshiba-sourced NAND flash device adds $9 and a Samsung DRAM chip, $5, it said. The site pegs no estimated cost for the NXP Semiconductor PN548 device that brings near field communication functionality to an iPhone for the first time. The same PN548 component is housed within the iPhone 6, which costs $227 to build, including $41.50 for the 4.7-inch display and touchscreen assembly, the site said. “Some key notes on the assembly included our analysts observing that the board design and the use of ’tried and true’ chipsets allowed Apple to maintain a high margin on the devices,” the site said. With a two-year contract, pricing starts at $299 for the iPhone 6 Plus, and at $199 for the iPhone 6, both for the versions with 16 GB of onboard storage. However, without the two-year activation, the phones cost hundreds of dollars more. Verizon, for example, has priced the iPhone 6 at $649 and the iPhone 6 Plus at $749 without the two-year contract.

TomTom launched a GPS sports watch for golfers Friday that packs golf course data from 34,000 courses around the world. Course graphics show distances to hazards and layups along with the best approach to the green, the company said. A golfer can keep track of the score, distance and time of a round on the TomTom Golfer and can use GPS technology to find the next hole and discover nearby courses, the company said. Suggested retail price is $249, and the watch is due in October.

Wearables, as the “advanced consumer face” of the Internet of Things, will rise at a compound annual growth rate of 24.56 percent and “cross” $11.6 billion in global sales in 2020, MarketsandMarkets said Friday in a report (http://bit.ly/1u3gc3e). The U.S. is more than 72 percent of the market, making it the “single largest revenue base” for global wearables, it said. The U.S. also “is expected to maintain its dominance” through 2020, but Asia-Pacific, “with China leading the way, is likely to grow at the highest CAGR during the next six years,” it said.

The global headphones market expanded by nearly 10 percent in unit volume last year to reach 286 million units shipped, triggering 16 percent growth in retail value and revenue of $8.4 billion, Futuresource Consulting said Thursday (http://bit.ly/1usFoBy). It predicted the global market will be worth $9.9 billion by the end of 2014, peaking at $11.3 billion in 2017 and with volumes continuing to build out to 2018 and beyond. “We're seeing nothing short of a headphones renaissance, with consumers making product choices across a wide price band,” the company said. The craze is particularly acute in both Europe and North America, where headphone ownership numbers three or four pairs in the average home, though this includes headphones bundled with smartphones, it said. In-ear models dominate global shipments, with 61 percent of unit volume, and with the average selling prices rising on the incorporation of new upscale features such as mics for mobile use and waterproofing for sports use, it said.

Insteon said it added voice interaction to its home automation platform via an update to the Insteon app for Windows Phone 8.1 (http://bit.ly/1stZ1sy). Support for Cortana, Microsoft’s personal digital assistant, lets consumers control and monitor smart home products via voice commands, a “major development in the evolution of the home automation industry,” Steven Guggenheimer, Microsoft corporate vice president, said Thursday. Adding Cortana support to Insteon products enables users to turn on and dim lights, lock and unlock doors, and open a garage door by voice while inside or outside the home. Users also can activate scenes by saying, for instance, “Insteon, leaving the house,” which could set in motion a series of events such as turning off lights, setting a thermostat to a lower temperature and locking doors, Insteon said. Other features of the app include Visitor Mode, which restricts access to the system by children or guests; enhanced camera support for multiple, simultaneous camera views; multi-house support to control a second home or business; and a dashboard that provides a view of a home’s status, it said.

DisplaySearch predicts Apple will ship 74 million iPhone 6 handsets and 42 million iPhone 6 Plus phones this calendar year, David Hsieh, vice president-Greater China market, said Thursday in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1u2xu0j). LG Display, Japan Display and Sharp are the LCD panel suppliers for the iPhone 6, while LG Display and Japan Display are supplying the panels for the iPhone 6 Plus, he said. “The panel makers need to ramp up production quickly, as we estimate that Apple has ordered more than 100 million iPhone 6 panels for 2014,” he said. That’s a strong indication that Apple “is clearly confident about iPhone 6 sales into 2015,” he said.